My first marathon.

I’ve done plenty of half marathons; flat ones, trail ones, hilly ones and the toughest, the Midsummer Munro on Box Hill one. But the marathon? NO. 

No, because I can’t, it’s too far, there’s all the training and quite frankly who wants to run for that amount of time?

But it was always there at the back of mind. Could I do it?  Then I turned 50 and you start to think well if I am ever going to do it…  So, in a moment of post birthday madness, I entered Richmond Marathon.  It’s where I used to live, it’s where I started running, I know the route, I can do this.

So began the 24-week training plan of slow runs (very hard for me), hill work, intervals (love them!) and the inevitable long runs. I reached the half marathon point and all was good.  15 miles, with the help of Rachel on her bike, tick. Then 20 miles.  It was a struggle, I was tired, I was hungry and the lactic acid post run was the worst, and no matter what I did my legs were just burning,  How on earth was I going to get to 26.2 miles?  Cue Helen – if you stick to the training plan you’ll do it and you have to believe that.  Wise words that stuck and got me back on track.

A week to go, long runs done, nutrition sorted, tapering done and I was ready to go.  Then less than 48 hours before the start of the race an email - following the passing of the Queen the race is postponed.  Kew Gardens, the start of the race, decided it could not go ahead.  Devastated.  Obviously for the Queen but also, what do I do now?  It was a weird time until 5 days later and it was back on for 9th October.  With some advice from Victoria and Abigail I picked up the training and once again was ready to go.

Race day. What can I say?  It was hard and it really is a very long way but I did it. The support from club members, the marshals, runners and spectators was incredible.  And the 4 hours and 22 minutes of running was worth it for that final second when I crossed the finish line.

If you are thinking of doing it then my advice is it’s not just about race day and the 26.2 miles you are going to run, it’s about how you get there.  Plan, train and stick with it and you can do it.  Believe me it is the most amazing feeling crossing that finishing line.

So what next?  Well, if you’ve done one marathon…

23rd April 2023 London Marathon here I come.